Lopez to leave full-time Tour after 25th season

PHOENIX - Hall of Fame member Nancy Lopez plans to stop playing tournaments full-time at the end of this season -- her 25th on the LPGA Tour. <br> <br> Lopez said Wednesday, ``I am not walking away from golf. I am at the beginning of a brand-new chapter in my golf career. You will see me, because I will be participating in corporate golf events, television, golf course design and working with Women&#39;s Golf Unlimited to develop new ideas for my namesake club line.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Lopez spoke before playing in the pro-am of the Ping Banner Health, the LPGA&#39;s second tournament of the season. <br> <br> She said she would compete in selected tour events in the future. <br> <br> After Phoenix, Lopez expects to play in tournaments this month in Tucson, Arizona, and Rancho Mirage, California, before taking time off. She said her next commitment was to the Chick-fil-A Charity Championship in Stockbridge, Georgia, on May 3-5. Lopez is listed as a host in the tournament&#39;s title. <br> <br> The announcement came three days after a women&#39;s golf summit, which called for reliance on star power as part of a five-year plan to improve the LPGA&#39;s attractiveness in the sports-entertainment market. <br> <br> Lopez, who has won 48 titles since she joined the tour in July 1977, was one of the first LPGA players to capture the attention of non-golfers. <br> <br> The galleries she drew called themselves ``Nancy&#39;s Navy,&#39;&#39; a takeoff on the ``Arnie&#39;s Army&#39;&#39; following PGA star Arnold Palmer, and Lopez elevated the LPGA by smashing stereotypes about the women&#39;s game. <br> <br> Lopez and her husband, former baseball player Ray Knight, have four children. They live in Albany.

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